SANTA CRUZ — Community members bombarded the Santa Cruz City Council on Tuesday with demands to address what one speaker termed the “war” on homelessness, with winter shelter options reduced from past years, the pending shuttering of a city-run homeless encampment and closure of city parks for maintenance.

“It has the impression to most of the people living on the streets that there’s a war by this organization, by the city, by the city manager’s office, by City Council, by Parks and Rec, against people that are poor,” said homelessness issues activist and Food Not Bombs co-founder Keith McHenry. “As a result of the policies here, we know more people will die this year on the streets, as a direct direct result of the actions of the city of Santa Cruz.”

On Wednesday, City Manager Martín Bernal told the Sentinel that allegations were untrue that closures of the homeless camp and San Lorenzo and Grant Street parks were purposely timed. He said maintenance at the Grant Street Park, including repairs to on-site restroom, would likely be completed before the camp’s phased closure begins Nov. 16. San Lorenzo Park, site of a four-month unauthorized homeless encampment that began in October 2017, will be reopened in portions as park and facility improvements are made, and may last throughout November, Bernal said.

“There might be a little bit of an overlap, with respect to San Lorenzo Park. But, if that were the case, we would have maybe done the work later or kept it closed later,” Bernal said. “If there was an attempt to do a sort of direct link, there. So the answer’s no.”

At the behest of community member lobbying, San Lorenzo Park’s bathroom was reopened this summer after an extended closure not long after the city closed its Louden Nelson Community Center bathrooms to community members not engaged in center programming, Bernal said. Heavy and improper usage of the toilets were part of the impetus for repair work needed now, he said.

“This is the kind of interim period that allows us to do the maintenance before the winter storms start,” Bernal said. “That’s another rationale for the timing – it’s that window of opportunity that we have, given the summer use and the transition of the camp.”

Bernal told the council on Tuesday that officials are continuing to seek alternative housing solutions for those 50 or more people staying at the River Street Camp, particularly for its most vulnerable occupants — such as veterans, women and families.

Also during the meeting, the council updated the city’s cannabis law and formalized a program that would allow granny flat property owners to live offsite for multiple years in exchange for setting their rental units at affordable income prices.

A proposal to lower the city’s cannabis sales tax from its current 8 percent to 3 percent, as recommended by Councilwoman Richelle Noroyan, failed to gain council support. However, the council agreed to lower its tax to 1 percent on testing laboratories and 2 percent on distribution and exempting non-cannabis goods at cannabis businesses from the cannabis tax.

City staff was directed to research potentially lowering the retail and wholesale taxes, as well. A second council vote at a coming meeting will be needed to finalize the new rates. To date, the city has taken in more than $1.7 million since Jan. 1 from its cannabis tax, with about $61,000 of that revenue set aside in a general city “children’s fund.”